Large levee breach 3 miles up from Cooper Nuclear Station. Mandatory evacs

by iced jamb

Authorities: No worries

Around 9:00 Thursday night, a large levee breach occurred at Brownville, Mo. three miles upstream from Nebraska’s Cooper Nuclear Station, the atomic reactor identical twin to Fukushima Daiichi Units 1 to 4. Mills County issued a mandatory evacuation order, are disconnecting power today, and say the General Electric Mark 1 Boiling Water Reactor of Cooper Nuclear Plant that has been under an “unusual event declaration,” is not threatened. NRC Chairman is heading to the site.

“This is a large breach and water will be moving rapidly. Persons should stay out of this area if previously evacuated due to danger,” the Atchison County Emergency Management office said in a prepared statement according to Nebraska State Paper.

“It happened so quick that they were concerned that they may not be able to escape. The water was coming through fast and hard. … We’re not sure what the size of the break is so far,” reported Mark Manchester, deputy emergency management director for Atchison County, Mo., Thursday evening.” (Lincoln Journal Star)

The World-Herald News Service reported that Mills County issued a mandatory evacuation order Thursday for residents in part of the county.

“The safety of the residents in those areas is our greatest concern, and we needed to take action,” said Sheri Bowen, public information officer for Mills County Emergency Management. (World-Herald)

Iowa Army National Guard, the levee and drainage district staff and emergency management personnel are patrolling the levee.

CNN reported Thursday, “It was catastrophic flooding from Japan’s March 11 tsunami that knocked out cooling systems at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, resulting in three reactors melting down and producing the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl.

“This year’s Midwestern flooding has also led to a spate of rumors about the Fort Calhoun plant that Omaha Public Power and the NRC have been trying to knock down.”

Although the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has stated that both the Cooper Nuclear Station at Brownville and the Fort Calhoun plant remain safe, NRC Chairman Gregory Jaczko will soon visit the state a spokesman for Senator Ben Nelson (NE-D) confirmed to Nebraska Watchdog.

On June 9th, Cooper Nuclear Plant issued a “Current Event Notification Report” to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission that stated, “OFFSITE NOTIFICATION CONCERNING INABILITY TO MEET SLUDGE POND DISCHARGE PERMIT DUE TO RIVER LEVELS.”

As of Thursday morning, the river at Brownville, 70 miles from Lincoln and Omaha, had climbed within a foot and a half from forcing Nebraska Public Power District (NPPD ) to declare an “Alert” and shut down the reactor according to Joe Jordon of the Nebraska Watchdog organization.

“While insisting that Nebraska’s two nuclear power plants remain safe in the face of record flooding from the Missouri River, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) on Wednesday issued a statement noting among other things ‘two feet of water’ onsite in many areas of the Fort Calhounplant which is 19 miles north of Omaha,” Jordon reported Wednesday.

The nuclear power watchdog, Beyond Nuclear, has reported that Cooper Nuclear Station is an “atomic reactor — identical twin to Fukushima Daiichi Units 1 to 4” and that a sludge pond has been uncontrollably releasing contents into river due to flooding.

Are Cooper’s uncontrolled sludge releases into the Missouri River in fact non-radiological? This document from Cooper (see pages 30-31) shows that sludge at Pilgrim 1 (also a GE BWR Mark 1, just like Fukushima Daiichi Units 1 to 4) was intensely radioactive, begging the question, are the sludges in question in the holding pond at Cooper also radioactive? Note also a radiological overexposure incident at Brunswick Unit 2 atomic reactor in North Carolina, yet another GE BWR Mark 1.

Red Cross opened a shelter at East Mills High School in Malvern. Residents needing evacuation assistance can contact Mills County Communication Center, 712-527-4871, or Mills County Public Health, 712-527-4231.